Technologies, issues and policies for sustainable mobility.

April 2012

April 30, 2012

Stewart K. Griffiths from Sandia National Laboratories reports in a paper accepted for publication in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology that the likely total discharge from the BP Macondo Prospect well (MC252) during the Deepwater Horizon accident was in the range of 4.9 to 5.8 million barrels. Minimum and maximum credible values of this discharge are 4.6 and 6.2 million barrels.

The US Department of Transportation (DOT) Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Joint Program Office (JPO) has issued a discussion document expressing a set of working principles intended to guide DOT’s research, demonstration and implementation activities related to a connected vehicle environment. DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is expected to issue a rulemaking on Vehicle Communications in 2013.

Connected vehicles refer to the ability of vehicles of all types to communicate wirelessly with other vehicles (V2V) and roadway equipment (V2I), such as traffic signals, to support a range of safety, mobility and environmental applications. Vehicles include light, heavy and transit vehicles. The concept also extends to compatible aftermarket devices brought into vehicles and to pedestrians, motorcycles, cyclists and transit users carrying compatible devices, which could make these vulnerable users more visible to surrounding traffic.

Pike Research forecasts that annual sales of electric two-wheel vehicles (e-scooters, e-motorcycles, and e-bicycles) will show robust growth and reach more than 65 million units in 2018. Sales will be dominated by China, where annual sales of electric two-wheel vehicles will reach
more than 60 million units in 2018 at a CAGR of 6.6%.

On a cumulative basis, forecasts Pike, sales in
China will reach more than 355 million units by 2018, with cumulative electric two-wheel vehicle sales in Asia Pacific will reach more than 381 million units in 2018.

Hydrogenics Corporation, a developer and manufacturer of hydrogen generation and fuel cell products, recently entered into an agreement with Enbridge Inc. jointly to develop utility-scale energy storage in North America. This relationship also includes an equity investment of CA$5.0 million in Hydrogenics. The collaboration will bring together Hydrogenics’ expertise in water electrolysis with Enbridge’s ownership and operation of natural gas pipeline networks and renewable energy generation.

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and General Motors have extended the operation range for a light-duty diesel engine operating on gasoline using extended controllability of the injection process via a triple-pulse injection strategy. (Earlier post.)

In a paper presented at SAE 2012 World Congress, the team reported the use of a triple-pulse injection strategy to extend gasoline direct-injection compression-ignition (GDICI) combustion in a single-cylinder engine to full load (16 bar IMEP, 2500 rpm) while maintaining results achieved earlier with a double-pulse injection strategy (~0.1 g/kg-f of NOx and PM and ~ 173 g/kWh of indicated specific fuel consumption, ISFC).

The Nikkei reports that General Motors Co. will enter talks with Isuzu Motors Ltd. on a capital and business alliance aimed at launching joint projects for commercial vehicles in Central and South America.